Synopses & Reviews

Synopsis

Excerpt from Wage Bargaining on the Vessels of the Great Lakes, Vol. 6

This study is an attempt to trace the development of methods of wage bargaining in the transportation industry Of the Great Lakes. Beginning as an industry in which both profits and wages were highly Speculative, lake traffic has been so modified that the returns to both cap-ital and labor have become standard ized. This has been made possible by the ever-increasing con centration of control of physical property and by the unification of the interests of wage earners. In the early days one man owned but one vessel and carried freight for other men each of whom owned but a small fraction of the supply of such freight. At present one corporation controls - through ownership and charters a majority of the available tonnage, and in addition owns an even greater majority of the freight to be shipped. Formerly the wage earner identified his interest with that of his employer. Later he banded with his fellow workers into unions for the purpose of bargaining with the employers. More re cently he has had the terms of his labor contract dictated by the same corporation which dominates the management of the phy sical property involved in lake tramc.

Much of the information was collected while the writer was employed as special investigator for the United States Commis sion on Industrial Relations. Grateful acknowledgment is made to representatives of employers' associations, to union Oficials, to government agents connected with lake traffic, and to the many individuals who have assisted in furnishing the background of facts from which to interpret labor relations on lake vessels. From the nature of the problem investigated, much Of the testi mony Obtained fro-m interested parties was necessarily contradic tory. For this reason care has been taken to avoid reliance upon oral statements. Reference has been made to published records wherever possible. Throughout the entire investigation the writ er was impressed by the desire of all parties interested in lake traffic to have the subject of labor relations on lake vessels fully and fairly presented. It is his earnest hope that this desire has been satisfied in this study.

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